"How did you do it?" Ashbel asked Desert, her face filled with shock as she opened communications.
"Of course, your Spirit Race taught us," Desert replied, a hint of surprise in his tone, disbelieving that this Spirit Race prophetess could ask such a question.
You see, with Cortana's help, they had long mastered the technique of opening Webway entrances.
Later, Eldrad and other prophets also shared Webway technology with them.
Now, the Imperium of Man can not only open the Webway but also repair it.
"We taught you? How is that possible?" Ashbel didn't believe this explanation.
"Eldrad and the other Spirit Race members taught us the relevant technology a long time ago. What's so surprising about opening Webway entrances? We can even repair the Webway."
"In a few more days, the Webway you once damaged will be repaired by us," Desert said, immediately realizing the issue.
It seemed that communication between the various Ark Worlds was not smooth.
This great prophetess from the Kolunus Ark World was unaware that the Players and Death Guard, along with other Spirit Race factions, had reached a permanent cooperation agreement with the Imperium of Man.
The main reason was that the Kolunus Ark World was too remote, far from other mainstream Ark Worlds, and usually had little interaction.
Therefore, they were unaware of many things.
"Usvej Ark World? They taught you Webway technology?"
"How could they do such a thing?" Upon hearing Eldrad's name, Ashbel immediately understood that other Ark Eldar had reached an agreement with these humans.
These fellows had not only taught humans how to open the Webway but also how to repair Webway breaches.
At this rate, humans would sooner or later gain complete control of the Webway.
By then, it would be unclear whether the Webway belonged to humans or the Spirit Race.
Thinking of this, Ashbel felt a surge of anger.
The Aeldari Empire had fallen, and the power of the entire race had plummeted to its historical lowest point.
Webway technology was the foundation of the Spirit Race's existence and their last reliance.
Teaching it to humans was surely inviting disaster.
This was a betrayal of the Spirit Race, the most shameless betrayal.
Those guys from the Usvej Ark World were all traitors.
They had committed unforgivable sins against the Spirit Race.
If one day, humans launched a war against the Spirit Race, leading to the Spirit Race's extinction, then the Usve prophets, led by Eldrad, would be the culprits.
"By the way, your Laughing God has also reached an agreement with the Imperium, promising to increase investment in humanity and allow humans to fully master the Webway. If a joint army is formed to fight the Chaos Gods in the future, they can even share the knowledge from the Black Library left by the Old Ones."
Desert's words instantly astonished Ashbel, who had been secretly resenting the Usvej Ark World.
The only surviving Spirit Race god, Cegorach, the Laughing God, had actually reached an agreement with these monkeys!
Not only was he willing to share Webway technology, but he also promised to share the Black Library left by the Old Ones.
What kind of concept was this?!
The Old Ones were the creators of the Spirit Race.
They had guided the Spirit Race, helping them create civilization and forge their own pantheon.
The Spirit Race was once the most glorious civilization in the galaxy, but they knew very well that there was still an unimaginable gap between them and the Old Ones.
The Black Library contained all the knowledge left by the Old Ones, the crystallization of their wisdom.
Any civilization that could obtain and digest the knowledge within the Black Library would instantly become a top-tier civilization.
Even at their peak, only a handful of Spirit Race members were allowed to enter this library.
And now, Cegorach, the Laughing God, as the guardian, had actually agreed to share the Black Library with humans.
What did he see in these humans?
Why was he willing to pay such a high price to cooperate with humans?
Why didn't she know any of these things?
If the Laughing God had reached an agreement with these human monkeys, then the Usvej Ark World would not be traitors, but heroes.
They had taken the first step towards win-win cooperation.
If, in the future, humans could truly assist the Spirit Race in defeating the Dark Prince, then Eldrad and the other Spirit Race members would also become heroes.
Thinking of this, Ashbel, who had been resentful of the Usvej Ark World for betraying Webway technology, felt a hint of jealousy rise in her heart.
Those guys from Eldrad actually had such foresight, being able to persuade the Laughing God to cooperate with humans.
Desert looked at Ashbel's projection, seeing her fall into contemplation, and didn't press further.
He had no idea that her thoughts were so complex, and that so many emotions could arise in such a short time.
If he had known, he would probably have sighed.
"No wonder they say that the bean sprouts' emotions are more sensitive than humans; they experience more sensory stimulation from the same things."
"A race capable of nurturing Slaanesh is indeed not to be underestimated."
The emotions of the Spirit Race were indeed so sensitive and volatile; this was their talent, allowing them to better wield psychic power, but it was also their weakness.
Any trivial matter would cause a much stronger echo in the Warp for them than for other races.
In the late Aeldari Empire, the bloody gladiatorial contests, assassinations, and conspiracies that appeared in various cities were all things the Spirit Race did to gain more sensory stimulation.
If an ordinary human could gain 1 unit of pleasure from an action, a Spirit Race member would gain 10 units of pleasure.
This was the fundamental difference between the two races.
After learning why humans had mastered Webway technology, Ashbel said no more. She closed the communication and had the Spirit Bone battleship follow the human fleet.
"When this is over, I'm going to visit the Usvej Ark World and see how many things they've been hiding from us!"
Ashbel intended to resolve Erebus's matter, then go find Eldrad and the other Spirit Race members to clarify the whole story and their intentions.
At the same time, with the help of other Spirit Race prophets, Ashbel planned to first observe the development of the threads of fate.
Even without knowing that humans had allied with Eldrad and the other Spirit Race members, she was willing to share information about Erebus, so it naturally wasn't out of pure benevolence.
It was because Erebus threatened the Kolunus Ark World.
Several years ago, Ashbel's mind had been frequently plagued by prophetic visions.
Erebus would lead Chaos warriors and demons to destroy the Kolunus Ark World.
He would also steal the Kolunus Ark World's soul stones and enslave the deceased ancestors.
She had to change this terrible fate.
However, this time, Ashbel saw nothing.
The future was hazy, empty, as if some terrible force had destroyed everything, turning the future into chaos, making it impossible to observe.
"Everything has fallen into the unknown."
Ashbel tried several times but gained nothing, so she could only give up in frustration.
"Now, I can only place my hopes on these human monkeys. I hope they can successfully eliminate Erebus."
The fleet passed through the intricate Webway, encountering some demons along the way.
But those demons caused no trouble and were quickly annihilated by the fleet.
The Players' combat power was growing stronger; ordinary demons could no longer pose a threat to high-level Players.
Of course, Players couldn't truly kill demons.
They could only banish them back to the Warp.
After exiting the Webway, the Players' warships headed straight for the Soronis World, as mentioned by the Spirit Race prophetess, Ashbel.
Erebus was hiding there, plotting his next conspiracy with his minions.
Soronis was a world controlled by Chaos forces.
Some Chaos leaders active in the Kolonus Expanse and traitors openly opposing the Imperium would exchange their supplies here.
The Dark Mechanicum also considered this an important market.
As long as there was enough money, one could buy most of the Imperium's standard weapons and ammunition here, as well as Daemon Engines and Daemon Servitors from Daemon Forge Worlds.
And the one in control of this place was a man rumored to be blessed by the Gods—Caligos.
Rumor has it that he was a wizard hunted by the Imperium. Caligos was originally an Imperial citizen from Calixis Sector.
His early life was like many ordinary Imperial citizens, with nothing peculiar about it.
Until the night he suddenly awakened his psychic talent, he screamed, releasing an unimaginable surge of mental power. The first wave of impact alone killed twenty-six billion Imperial citizens across twenty-six worlds.
In this terrible disaster, over sixty billion people were casualties, an extremely tragic event that temporarily paralyzed these worlds, preventing them from functioning normally.
For this, the Inquisition listed Caligos as a target to be eliminated and dispatched professional commando teams to execute him.
However, after awakening, Caligos received help from several Dark Wizards and blessings from the Chaos Gods.
Thus, he successfully mastered his psychic powers and even signed a pact with a demon.
Using the demon's power, he counter-killed the commando team sent by the Inquisition and even seized a ship.
Using that ship, he entered the Koronus Expanse and spent ten years becoming the ruler of the Soronis World.
With his powerful psychic abilities, he intimidated those foolish individuals. If one were to set aside the Imperium's stance and judge from an ordinary person's perspective, Caligos's story was legendary.
"We need to stabilize this time, first blockade the star system," Desert said in the communication channel.
Little Alpaca: "I support that. Erebus is too cunning."
A Bowl of Lobster Soup: "I also support it. We can't let this bad seed escape like Desert did."
Desert: "—
The dignified leader of the island had actually become an object of ridicule.
He couldn't tolerate it.
This time, at all costs, they must capture Erebus alive.
He wasn't trying to tell others how awesome he was.
Instead, he wanted to tell everyone that he would wash away all the shame.
As the Players reached a consensus, the brought-along dimensional controllers were quickly deployed.
The Soronis World was trapped within a dimensional space, severing all spacetime and peeling it away from the Reality universe.
Even artifacts capable of cutting through Reality spacetime could not escape.
On the surface of Soronis, Erebus immediately sensed the spatial shift. He took out his dagger and drew a line in the air.
A glowing rift appeared.
However, strange roars also emanated from the depths of the rift.
This rift connected not to the Warp, nor to other worlds, but to another mysterious space.
Heavy footsteps sounded, as if the creature on the other side of the rift had noticed its living space had been opened and was coming to investigate.
"These outsiders truly have many tricks."
Erebus hadn't wasted this past ten thousand years.
He was still delving into theology.
Not only studying galactic theology but also cosmic theology.
He wanted to thoroughly understand the secrets of this universe.
The galaxy seemed vast, but it was insignificant to the universe.
If there were Chaos Gods here, were there also their own Chaos Gods or something else in other galaxies?
Over these years, Erebus had explored the ruins of various ancient civilizations and cooperated with mysterious organizations to exchange knowledge.
After some effort, he had also achieved some results, learning of the existence of Outer Gods.
The Outer Gods were even older and more powerful.
They even had apostles walking within the galaxy, secretly observing the evolution of all races and gods.
However, Erebus had no means of contacting these Outer Gods. They merely observed, rarely interfering with anything within the galaxy.
They also didn't require faith, nor would they respond to anyone who worshipped them.
The selection of apostles was also designated by them.
This greatly troubled Erebus; he couldn't understand the purpose of these Outer Gods.
The Chaos Gods, at least, had the Eye of Terror for pilgrimage, and one could gain blessings and establish relationships through fervent faith.
However, those Outer Gods were not interested in any of this; they merely sent apostles to observe everything in the galaxy.
It was as if everything that happened in the galaxy was irrelevant to them.
And what Erebus had just seen were the kin of those Outer Gods.
These things were also impossible to communicate with.
Even more terrifying, they possessed astonishing assimilation abilities. Even demons would go mad and their forms would twist, eventually transforming into their likeness, simply by approaching those Outer Kin.
The rift vanished, and Erebus withdrew his gaze, looking back up at the sky.
Those outsiders had blocked his retreat, so now he could only go all out.
"Come down, let's see if the power of the higher dimensions is stronger, or the mighty power of the Gods is more terrifying."
"I will baptize you with a Chaos ritual crafted from the sacrifice of hundreds of millions of lives. I refuse to believe that after such powerful Chaos energy enters your bodies, you can still maintain yourselves and not change at all."
Erebus muttered to himself.
Betting everything he had, in this battle, he would make these outsiders completely fall to Chaos, becoming slaves of the Gods.
The hatred between the Imperium of Man and the Chaos traitors could only be cleansed with blood.
As soon as the Players arrived in the Soronis star system, void combat erupted.
However, the Chaos traitors' fleet was truly no match for the Players.
After just a few exchanges of fire, they were completely destroyed, and the Imperium achieved an overwhelming victory.
"It seems the void battle was just a prelude; the real test is on the ground." Desert frowned as he watched the ground observation footage.